The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-11-06
Married at Fourteen and Be-
coming Failed at Thirty.
THE PECULIAR ATTRACTION
Some Popular Illusions as to the
Habits of the Fair Sex In Eastern .
Countries Dispelled.


guarded by very ugly eunuchs, and re-
duced to spend their time in attempting
to catch the smiles of jealous lord, as
they sprawl in graceful attitudes on
silken cushions. Their only other oc-
cupation is understood to be devouring
immense quantities of sweetmeats in
order to become corpulent; their only
amusement the pleasure of poisoning
rival wives and hearing interminable
stories of the Arabian Nights" pat
tern.
1t is true that with the Turk beauty
must be fat. 1t is not so, however, with
the Persian; he has the appreciation OF
a conpoisseur for the juste millleu. A
stout woman in Persia is spoken Of as
IAN elephant" while the leaner ones
are generally called "camels." Though
they deal largely in hyperbole, the Per
SLAMS do not mince matters IN speaking
of the fair sex.
The veil, which is habitually worn out
of doors even by the very poor in all
great towns in Persia, though its use is
unknown among the tribes who form at
least a third of the whole population, is
chung to by the women as a privilege; it
is in fact a domino. The Persian
woman out doors is unrecogniZable
even by her husband. She sees with
out being seen, and in the veil it is i'm
possible to detect the age of the wearer.
As the Persian lady is nearly always
married at IA, she begins to fade at p
at latest; at 30 she appears 90. and
there are only two dentists in the whole
of Persia.
PoLYGAMY IS THE LUXURY OF THE RICH ;
with the upper and middle classes
bigamy is the rule. A mans first al
lance is a marriage de cOnvenaace, the
second either a marriage for love or for
the qualification of vanity. When yoar
Persian brings home second
wife there Is usually scene which lasts
for a week or two; there is struggle
for supremacy, but it is soon over. Both
wives do their best to please the master
Of the house, but they do not attempt
u poison each other unless in very ex
ceptlona, circumstances. But Persian
ladIe. slIll believe in the efficacy OF love
philters, ana many an abomination Is
secretly administered to unfortunate
husbands. Happily, the love philter,
though usually composed OF horrible
ingredients, Is quite harmless.
Tue bath takes up good deal OF the
time of all Persian women. Even the
poores. will attend the Hannah atleast
once a week. For the lady the bath is
one of the serious affairs of life,
and takes up daily from two to four
hours of her time. 1t is something
more than our idea of bath. The vic
tim is scraped and parboiled. The sOles
of the feet are pumiced until they are
as soft and tender as those Of a little
child. The hair is thoroughly washed by
means of hot water and the sapOna-
ceous clay for which Shiraz is cele
DRAFTED Then the attendants mix IN
brazen bowl the aromatic henna with
the requisite amount of lemon juice,
till brown paste the consistency of
cruel is produced, and several handfuls
OF the repulsive-looking compound are
smeared over the lady's head. Then
the hair collected into mass, is bound
up in cabbage caves. Smal quantities
OF the dye are sIn scared over the eye
brows: the soles of the feet, the toes,
the palms Of the hands and the finger
tius are also covered with it. And now
the lady has to sit perfectly still from
one to three hours, till, like a meer-
schaum. she colors; and it is exactly
The ceior obtained on the best speci-
mems of the pipes that is most fashion
able among the Persian ladies. Day
after day the bath is throGged with
women, each sitting perfectly still tor
the color 10 take" But they have
their reward. for the henna dyes the
hair beautiful deep warm chestnut;
hence gray hsir Is
UNKNOWN AMONG PERSIAN LADIES.
While the coIoring process has been
going on tongues have been running,
and good deal sf scandal has been ex-
changed, The female barber with
pair of tweesers has removed every out
lying hair from the region of the lady 8
eyebrows. 1t is the ambition of every
Persian woman that her eyebrows shall
attractive are eyebrows that they are
called the bridge Of love-" The first
care. then, of the Persian beauty IS
with little pencil of anthony to unite |
her eyebrows. and then she proceeds TO |
make them appear Of unnatural thick |
ness. Her eyelashes are penciled, TOO. |
in a manner not unknown to our own |
countryWomen. By this time the lady |
will have smoked many kslians or !
water pipes, she will have partaken of |
tea and and RECALLED herself with coffee. |
ICED sherbe,S. 700, will not have been !
wanting. Her finger tips. nails and |
palms, as well as the soIes of her feet |
and toes, have attained bright chest |
hue which will last a week. The hair |
is carefully washed once more. 1t is |
seldom under yard long, often much |
more, for the Persian woman never cuts
her hair, except in front, perhaps, |
when two heavy leye-looks are left on |
either side of the face. The ladies now
return home TO their MONDAY break |
fasts. After breakfast there is generally !
a siesta, and this in hot country Is /
almost q necessity, About O'Clock tea |
and pipes appear, and tbtn the lady |
receives callers or pays visits, or per
baps does 3 little shopping, or takeS the
SIR mounted on her ambling mule r !
d II key of snowy Wilderness.
FRE PERSIAN LADY
is good housewife. She rises with the |
dawn she is liberal in her hOusekeaD |